OBNIMASHKI - thoughts on hugging

"OBNIMASHKI - thoughts on hugging" is a compilation of interviews with the performers of OBNIMASHKI, a stage piece by Anna Aristarkhova, researching cultural aspects and personal attitudes towards "hugging".

A hug is a daily mutual choreography with many uncertainties. Five performers throw themselves into various forms of hugs which don’t always mean what was intended.

Instructions for friends – level of difficulty: easy:

1. Look at each other and possibly smile
2. Possibly open your arms slightly to prepare each other mentally
3. Approach each other and put your arms around each other's neck, waist or hips*
4. Head is slightly tilted towards the left side, towards the right shoulder of the partner
5. Press yourselves to one another
6. Stop the body contact before you feel uncomfortable*

* (The position of the arms and the duration of the hug depends on the
degree of friendship)

Instructions for a knee - level of difficulty: easy

1. Look at your knee and smile
2. Place your hands around it and squeeze it slightly and tenderly
3. Move your hands away and watch your knee smile back at you

Co-produced by Uferstudios GmbH in the frame of the Project „Life Long Burning“ (lifelongburning.eu) with the support of the Cultural Program of the European Union.
In co-production with Sophiensäle.
Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
Thanks to Verein der Freunde und Förderer der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes for their friendly support!
OBNIMASHKI is a part of a Master Graduation work at HZT (Inter-University Centre for Dance) Berlin in the frame of MA Choreography studies.